Connectivity has made our rather large planet seem as though “it's a small world after all”. An individual can enter a single search in a web browser, pull up information related to the search query from all over the globe, place a telephone call to a company on the other side of the planet that was identified in the search results, and have a product shipped to his home with a confirmatory email sent to his computer all in a few sweeps and clicks of a mouse. Actions that used to take weeks worth of work can now be accomplished in just a few moments.
In view of the radical advancements in worldwide connectivity through mediums such as the World Wide Web, cellular infrastructure, etc., there remains a need in the art for the logistical implementation and integration of these capabilities into real-life scenarios. Often times, the lack of knowledge, understanding, and/or imagination can be a stumbling block for various business entities, market segments, and industries to fully comprehend and incorporate such technological advancements into their world and to fully reap the benefit of such advancements.
With the growth of the Internet and connectivity, the auction industry has been radically modified. An industry that was at one time limited to the noise and bustle of the auctioning floor in an auction house with the yipping of the auctioneer has been opened up to participants that remain in their office, or at home, or at another auction house while bidding and following items in an auction house half-way across the country. This has been accomplished by bringing the auction houses online such that a person can watch items and bid on items just as though he or she was standing in the lane.
Although great advancements have been made in the auctioning industry from the perspective of access or remote participation, little has been done to change the overall structure or operation of the auction process. More specifically, the great advancements in technology and connectivity that are available to help guide and run businesses in this age of connectivity and data warehousing have not been fully exploited to revolutionize the auction industry. As a result, much of the operation of auctions remains the same and auctions tend to be one-dimensionally focused. For example, in an auto auction, as each vehicle is brought into the lane, the auction house, the bidders, the auctioneer, etc., are all focused on that single car. The auctioneer is trying to find a buyer—he is scanning the audience and watching the bidders in an attempt to find an interest that can be leveraged to sell the current vehicle. The bidders are looking at the product and deciding if it would meet their particular needs for the particular moment, be it transportation, leasing, reselling, refurbishment, parts, etc.
One change that has been introduced into the auctioning industry is the use of combinatorial auctions. A combinatorial auction allows auction participants to bid on combinations of items or packages rather than just on individual items or continuous quantities. Examples of combinatorial auctions have been seen in estate auctions where items are bundled together. But other examples include truckload transportation, airline runway usage, radio spectrum, etc. Combinatorial auctions have several complications. One of the complications is how to efficiently determine the allocation once the bids have been submitted. However, another complication is how to sift through the available items to identify optimal bundles or packages for which participants can place bids. What is needed in the art is a solution that can beneficially exploit the advances in technology, connectivity, data warehousing, etc., to optimize auctions in efficiently moving items in a manner that benefits the sellers of products and or services as well as the consumer.